Cara Streit named director of student accessibility support

Brandeis University has named Dr. Cara Streit as its new director of student accessibility support. Streit will start at Brandeis on Monday, Nov. 30 and report to Erika Smith, Dean of Academic Services.

Cara’s career in higher education, disability justice and opportunity equity spans more than a decade. She most recently served as the inaugural Associate Director and Director of Academics, Innovation and Inclusion of the Threshold Program at Lesley University. 

During her 13-year tenure at Lesley, Cara oversaw inclusive education programming and curriculum building for students with intellectual, developmental, learning and physical disabilities. She also evaluated the physical accessibility of residence halls, offices, and classrooms as well as virtual spaces, and worked directly with students and their families to assess disability accommodations needs.

While at Lesley, Cara developed and taught universally designed social science courses, oversaw faculty development initiatives, supervised clinical social work interns providing therapeutic counseling to students, and served on the university’s Diversity Council, the President’s Council on Inclusive Excellence, and the COVID-19 Virtual Academic Taskforce designing faculty training opportunities and advancing inclusivity and accessibility priorities.

Cara is a licensed social worker in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and holds a Bachelor of Science from Boston College, a Master of Social Work from Simmons University, and a Doctorate of Education in Special Education from Boston University.

Prior to her work at Lesley, Cara worked with several organizations advancing causes related to equity and accessibility. She was an employment consultant for Best Buddies Massachusetts and  a social work intern at the North Shore Rape Crisis Center. She also held fellowships at Children’s Hospital Boston’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) Program and at the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship Program, where she co-created a mentoring program for children and young adults with learning and developmental disabilities.